Flatpak 1.5.1 Prepares For Protected/Authenticated Downloads - Future App Purchasing

[Vistaus]

Well, I guess this is a positive because if developers of proprietary software can both make a single application build that works across all linux distros and easily put it behind a secure pay wall we could start to see more of said proprietary software come to linux. I'm not enthused to be able to use more proprietary software on linux myself but it undoubtedly eases the transition for Windows users to come to linux.

MS Office, please!!!

[Vistaus]

It's already proven Canonical gives up on their home based solutions. Unity (which actually was good), upstart (terrible imho) and now snaps. I think it's just a matter of time.. Unifying Linux desktop is very important and it's also important to make ground for professional applications like Photoshop and many others, so they'll be portable between different Linux distributions. Systemd, flatpack, Wayland are truly needed and amazing. While I love KDE, Gnome starts to be more and more appealing, because it's built around mentioned solutions.

KDE Discover supports Flatpaks and KDE is built around systemd. The only true WIP is Wayland support, but they are improving. So I fail to see how GNOME does those things better (except for Wayland support).

[Vistaus]

Volta Snap is not going away.

That's what they said about Unity and Upstart after pouring lots of money into those projects...

[Vistaus]

Even on Windows you get every FLOSS application for free.

So the paid version of Krita in the Windows Store is fake?
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/kr...otverviewtab

So no, not EVERY floss app on Windows is free.

[Volta]

So the paid version of Krita in the Windows Store is fake?
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/kr...otverviewtab

So no, not EVERY floss app on Windows is free.

If you had it free in Debian and not free in Fedora what would you choose?

[wizard69]

Well, I guess this is a positive because if developers of proprietary software can both make a single application build that works across all linux distros and easily put it behind a secure pay wall we could start to see more of said proprietary software come to linux. I'm not enthused to be able to use more proprietary software on linux myself but it undoubtedly eases the transition for Windows users to come to linux.

It doesn’t need to be proprietary software. There is nothing wrong with open source developers earning a bit off their software. Of course that means people being willing to put up the cash.

the truly sad thing here is that there are two problems to software growth on Linux. One is the use of Linux with zero giving back. A good portion of the Linux users out there just are in it for “free” and care little beyond that. The second issue is that developers really have a hard time marketing software on Linux due to the multiple distros and the lack of a system. I’m not convinced that this will solve the problem.

[wizard69]

Obviously any programmer relying on payment systems has to accept that Linux has a disproportionate number of users (myself included) who simply do not accept paid software. Instead of a paid flatpack, pull the source from github (or wherever), do a non-Google online search for build instructions and build it yourself. No source, use something else or do without. Apps for paid services like Spotify are also things many of us FOSS advocates won't use.

All this can of course co-exist, though I would ask that Flathub impose a complete and total ban on applications supported by ads. Google's Android play store marks ad supported apps but (last I ever saw it) cannot be set to hide them entirely so as not to spam a search for someone who does not permit ad-supported apps on their device. Solution on Android is simple: Disable the Google Play Store and install F-droid. Then disable Google Play Services, disable and replace everything that uses it and GET CONTROL. F-Droid does not even require a login, so no need to have a Google account at all.

Flathub could become another Google Play, another F-Droid, or theoretically both at the same time by allowing users to set "exclude" filters while never requiring an account to download free and non ad-supported apps. As for ad-supported apps, a lot of them were chased off Windows in the 00's by campaigns against Gator/Claria, then Android let the camel's nose back under the tent in their play store. Let's not ever let that get started in Linux desktops. If it does or other bad things (such as account requirements) happen, with Flathub's open source structure folks could start another interoperable repository, just as the F-Droid folks did.

I never really understood this mentality. Why would you not want to pay for a developers efforts if the software in question is something you need?

seriously the whole reason other platforms have so much software available is the fact that developers can feed themselves off the earnings. This is especially important for non trivial software that requires time investment and support.

[ssokolow]

ssokolow

Hello, could you elaborate on this please? Do these containerised applications have less performance? I have a couple of 3D applications installed via Flatpak, simply because it was the most convenient way for me to install them. If I can get higher performance by installing them the traditional way I should probably switch over.

It's not performance that's the problem. It's that there's still work to be done on ensuring that accelerated rendering under Flatpak Just Works™ when combined with nVidia hardware.

See, for example, this post for more details.

[starshipeleven]

Exactly, which means it wastes 100s of MB of memory because shared objects cannot actually be, you know, shared...

The tradeoff is acceptable, if the packaged applications truly become timeless and sandboxed.

[starshipeleven]

Well, it is. If you have them for free in every Linux distribution then why would you want to pay for them?

Who is going to sell you FOSS applications you can already get for free? Where is this stated? Did I miss anything?